Latest Articles
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Bush hopes to send Americans to the moon … again
So, many enviros are familiar with The New Apollo Project, based on Prez Kennedy's original Apollo moon missions but instead aiming to harness that good ol' 'Merican ingenuity and know-how to jumpstart a massive clean-energy program in the U.S. while simultaneously creating a whole slew of new jobs. Good idea? Sure it is. But like most good ideas in the U.S., it's going exactly nowhere in the halls of government.
But now, sensing the public's urgent, even palpable need for space travel (oh, it's there!), the ever with-it Bush admin has a plan that takes the new Apollo Project in an entirely different direction: to the moon. That's right, they've got a plan to go retro and couple that fabled American ingenuity with high-tech spending to boldly go where, uh ... we've already been. But hey, the moon worked for Kennedy, right, so why couldn't it be a rallying point more than 40 years later? (We're in the middle of a curiously similar war, after all, and maybe that's all the reason anyone needs.) Of course, some might be quick to mock the administration, saying they're just trying to divert attention away from other issues. But what could they possibly want to distract attention away from? I really have no idea.
Seriously though, this is great. Given the massive budget trauma in the wake of Katrina and, um, the enormously expensive and still ongoing occupation of Iraq (donation, please?), and, uh, that stuff in Afghanistan, and all those tax breaks (am I missing anything?) -- amid the shifting of funds away from NASA and the likely cut of about 600 NASA employees from their Washington headquarters, nevermind the fact that the agency still can't clear the stratosphere without its shuttle falling apart -- I think a big ol' Space Odyssey 2005 is exactly what this country needs. Or at least a big ol' press conference about it.
Ooh, the moon!
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Jay Tutchton, head of environmental law clinic, answers questions
Jay Tutchton. What work do you do? I am the director of the Environmental Law Clinical Partnership at the University of Denver, Sturm College of Law. We introduce law students to the world of public-interest environmental litigation and train them in the basic skills of the trade, and we file the best lawsuits we can […]
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Synthetic monkeys to replace real ones
It looks like wild orangutans are going to be extinct in my lifetime. * A pessimist would view this as a disaster, but as an optimist, I see only opportunity here. Not only do I plan to buy stock in Indonesian palm oil companies, but also I am thinking of marketing weather-resistant synthetic replicas of orangutans (see prototype above) to hang in the palm oil trees. I expect to garner a secondary income stream from tourists who will flock to the plantations to see them hanging in trees in an area that once harbored their natural habitat -- a theme park if you will. Covering all bases, I will also corner the market on bumper stickers that read, "Boycott products made from palm oil!" ** The only hope I see is that the Chinese, who are funding these new palm oil plantations, will step in and insist on some kind of conservation plan, putting our version of capitalism to shame. What are the odds that a senior member of China's ruling elite is reading this blog right now?
*Start of sarcasm.
**End of sarcasm. -
Off by a Mileage
EPA to revise tests of new cars’ gas mileage The U.S. EPA has announced plans to overhaul its current method for estimating the fuel economy of new automobiles — the miles-per-gallon numbers stuck on the windows of every new car. The method now in use has changed little since the mid-1970s, even though driving conditions […]
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Plight My Fire
Spain reprimands public for careless behavior leading to forest fires Spain has endured about 23,000 forest fires this year, up more than 25 percent from the same time last year. The blazes have destroyed more than 370,000 acres of land and killed 17 citizens — and more than 90 percent of them have been started […]
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A Flood of Accusations
Justice Dept. looking for ways to blame New Orleans flood on enviros The feds are digging around for info they could use to blame the flooding of New Orleans on environmentalists. At the request of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, the Justice Department last week emailed U.S. attorneys’ offices in the Gulf Coast […]
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Umbra on speed limits
Dear Umbra, I was babbling about the ’70s energy crisis, gas rationing, and the nationwide 55 mile-per-hour speed limit at work the other day, and found myself explaining to a group of younger people how you save gas if you drive slower. They had never heard such a thing! Could you refresh my memory about […]
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On habitat protection, zoning restrictions, and angry citizens
Amazing ... these stairs are testament to how far some people will go to lay claim to beachfront property. According to this study, half of Oregon's fish are facing extinction from human impact. I strongly suspect that a similar situation exists in every state. Dams, logging, sport fishing, and development are combining to finish the job started by the Fish and Wildlife Service when they began planting non-native fish for people to catch. Large buffers against logging and development along lakes and streams would do wonders. -
A possible smear campaign fingers greens for flooding in New Orleans
The Gonzales Justice Department may be seeking to orchestrate a smear campaign blaming environmentalists for the flooding of New Orleans.
The Jackson, Miss., Clarion-Ledger reports that the following email was sent to various federal attorneys this week by the Justice Department:
SUBJECT: Have you had any cases involving the levees in New Orleans?
A Justice Department spokeswoman declined to comment to the paper, because the message is "an internal email."QUESTION: Has your district defended any cases on behalf of the Army Corps of Engineers against claims brought by environmental groups seeking to block or otherwise impede the Corps' work on the levees protecting New Orleans? If so, please describe the case and the outcome of the litigation.
